24-25 May 2008 - Port Macquarie Uniting
Church

These concerts took place at the
Port Macquarie Uniting Church, Sherwood Road,
on Saturday 24th May at 4.00 pm and Sunday 25th May at 2.00 pm.

DO
YOU LOOK FORWARD TO A JOURNEY? WE'VE ALL HAD JOURNEYS: SOME SHORT, OTHERS
EXTENDED; SOME WERE HOLIDAYS, AND SOME NOT SO PLEASANT. BUT ALWAYS THERE ARE
JOURNEYS. ANTICIPATION, EXCITEMENT, APPREHENSION ARE SOME OF THE EMOTIONS YOU
MAY EXPERIENCE AS YOU PREPARE AND THEN THERE ARE THE WARM COMFORTING FEELINGS OF
COMING HOME AGAIN TO YOUR OWN SPECIAL PLACE.

GUEST
BARITONE SOLOISTCHRISTOPHER
ALLAN, HEAD OF VOICE AT NEWCASTLE
CONSERVATORIUM, PERFORMED THE SOLOS IN THE WONDERFUL 'SONGS
OF THE FLEET'BY
STANFORD, SUPPORTED BY CANTORUS
CHOIR. CHRISTOPHER IS ALWAYS IN GREAT DEMAND HAVING SUNG WITH OPERA AUSTRALIA,
CANTILLATION & OTHER PROFESSIONAL GROUPS.

ORATOR
FOR THE TWO-CONCERT PROGRAM WAS TALENTED LOCAL ACTORDAVID
MALIKOFF,WHOSE
AMAZING SKILL WITH THE SPOKEN WORD DELIGHTED PATRONS AS HE DELIVERED BOTH
POETRY & ANECDOTES. THE BEAUTIFUL YOUNG VOICES OF BEL
CANTO CHOIR FROM TACKING POINT PUBLIC
SCHOOL AND THE EVER POPULAR CANTABILE
FEMALE ENSEMBLE ALSO ADDED TO THE EXCELLENT LINE UP OF TALENT.

ENTHUSIASTIC
AUDIENCES TOOK ADVANTAGE OF THE TWO OPPORTUNITIES TO EXPERIENCE THIS GREAT PROGRAM - SATURDAY MAY 24 AT 4.00
P.M. & SUNDAY MAY 25 AT 2.00 P.M. IN THE VERY COMFORTABLE UNITING CHURCH IN
SHERWOOD ROAD.

Songs
of the Fleet

Sir
Charles Stanford (1852-1924, music) and Sir Henry Newbold (1862-1938, words)
were late-Victorian/Edwardian figures of the British cultural elite. Their works
often displayed the grandeur, patriotism and imperial pomposity of the times.
“Songs of the Fleet” was commissioned for performance at an International
Naval Architects Congress of 1910, a period when competing fleets of huge
battleships were under construction.

This new “golden age” for the Royal
Navy followed a long period of torpor up until the 1890s. Resurgence and
excitement provides the context of the piece which evokes the traditions and
heroes of the Royal Navy (and was no doubt meant to impress the Congress
attendees with British seafaring triumphs).

“Sailing at Dawn” is about
revival and how the old heroes and the souls of sailors-past guide the new
fleet, leading the line of battleships as they set out on their mission.

“Song
of the Sou’Wester” harkens back to the days of sail when “the enemy most
of might” was the savage sou’west winds which mocked the “militant ways of
man”.

When the Giant calmed down, the fleet was to be found sailing gently in
“The Middle Watch”, waiting for the constellations to fade to a new day; it
provides an allegory o the revived fleet.

“The Little Admiral” turns to the
heroes and legends of the Royal Navy (such as Admiral Sir Charles Howard and his
bowls) and the swagger which would come from commanding a fleet of 10, 20, 30
leviathans crewed by thousands.

And just to remind us that all this is for our
own good, but can result in tragedy and death, the piece ends with “Fare
Well” – a lament of the mothers, and thanks from the nation. The Congress
was cancelled upon the death of Edward VII but the work was subsequently
performed in Leeds in July 1910.

Click this image to
view the flyer online or download a copy for printing: